Fundchange, one of Canada’s first “crowdfunding” or online fundraising websites for Canadian charities, today announced its first year results with a visual PDF info graphic at a web press conference. Ideavibes™ in partnership with TELUS, launched Fundchange to assist charities across the country.

In its first year of operations Ideavibes was recognized by winning the 2011 Ottawa Bootstrap Start-up Award. Fundchange is a fundraising and social media initiative for Canadian charities and non-profits that uses the crowdfunding model. Crowdfunding is a term used to describe individuals coming together, primarily via the web and social media, to support and directly fund projects by other individuals and organizations.

Built on the Ideavibes Crowd Engagement Platform, Fundchange strives to engage a new generation of donors where social media and the influence of peers drives donors to act on projects that speak to them. The fundchange tagline “Fundchange change one project at a time”, characterizes its ambition to be a viable option for small to medium charities looking to fund projects (currently $5,000 and under) that help them make an impact.

Over the past 12 months, Fundchange directly raised over $55,000 from donors across the country for a total of 54 projects of which 13 have been fully funded so far. In addition, TELUS, as part of their support for Fundchange, has matched funding on a number of projects for a total of $50,000.

”TELUS is proud to have partnered with Ideavibes in the development of Fundchange, an innovative fundraising tool that helps connect charities with the next generation of donors”, says Shannon Gorman, National Director of Community Affairs, TELUS.

According to founder, Paul Dombowsky, CEO of Ideavibes, “We have learned a great deal about how to help charities and non-profits use social media and the power of the crowd to fund change in our communities with Fundchange. Our partnership with TELUS has meant that we have been able to meet with charities and non-profits at live workshops to teach their fundraising and social media staff how to make online activity turn into funding opportunities.”

Fundchange and TELUS will be holding workshops for charities and non-profits in Vancouver on April 18th, Victoria on April 20th, and in Calgary on April 26th. April will also see Fundchange and TELUS release a new eBook on Social Media by renowned educator and consultant, Rebecca Coleman.

Fundchange and TELUS will also be announcing a new Spring Matching Campaign for projects posted and funded through Fundchange.